Free to Be Me!

In my last post, I discussed the topic of “Determining Who One Is.” I argued in the post that one must make the effort to love oneself and to love oneself one must follow the learning process that humans use in all other activities. The goal of learning about oneself is unity within self…wholeness of being. And, we are commanded to engage in this process for it is a part of the commandments to love God and to love our neighbor (people and creation) as we love ourselves…to be in unity with God, within ourselves, with others, and with creation.

This last post follows the line of several other posts that I have written for this blog site. The foundation for all my thinking is that human beings are problem solvers. This is the most unique of all the characteristics of human beings and the degree of improvement and the level of sophistication these humans have attained in this skill has separated them from all other life that we know of. I wrote of this in my post “Problem Solving: The Most Human of Activities,” which appeared on February 22, 2008.

The basic goal of problem solving…or in other words, decision making…is to observe the regularities of creation and create models, schema, rules, and so forth to use as a means of prediction when an individual is faced with a situation or a difficulty that requires some form of action. The use of these models is very pragmatic…they must be logically consistent and they must predict at least as well as any other model that can be useful in such a situation or difficulty. I discussed these issues in my post of October 31, 2008 entitled “Models that Work.”

The thing is that we must develop a “trust” in our models. Since we work in a world of incomplete information ALL of our models are going to be partial or fallible. Humans do not have models that predict the future perfectly…that is why “trust” is so important. The question, of course, becomes…what models, schema, rules, and so forth do I “trust”? The basic concept here is that through use, education, example, and so forth, we develop what is called a “warranted belief” in those models, schema, rules, and so forth. Warranted, here is used to mean that the individual has sufficient evidence or proof that the model, etc., is logically consistent and predicts at least as well as any other model that can be applied to the given situation or difficulty. Warranted, in this case, means that a person has, for him- or her-self, sufficient justification to put their “trust” in the model being applied to the situation or difficulty. With new information we improve, modify, or introduce new, logically consistent models that predict better than the old ones. This concept was expanded on in my post of March 14, 2008 entitled “Warranted Belief.”

An important thing to remember, however, is that we do not do all this work alone…we live in the world…we have families…we belong to groups…we are part of communities…and so forth. We are not meant to be alone…to do it all alone…or to be separated…or alienated…or isolated. We learn in communities; communities give us a chance to practice problem solving and decision making; communities allow us to make mistakes and look foolish; and communities help us to grow and develop. They provide us with a (relatively) safe place for us to experiment and try out things without facing the temptations, threats, and disappointments of the “outside” world.

But, groups and communities can present problems. Groups or communities can attempt to impose their ideas on individuals. Groups or communities can try and control individuals. Groups and communities can limit thinking, learning, experimenting, growth, and becoming whole. Groups can be very destructive to becoming who one is.

Thus, the groups and communities we belong to are important. Understanding this and learning and growing are important in how we decide on the groups and communities we join or remain with. This was why I discussed this concern in “The Communities We Belong To” in my post of March 7, 2008. This choice can be a difficult part of life and sometimes the choice separates us from some individuals that are very close and dear to us. Yet, for us to become who we are as fully as possible and to grow into greater unity with God and ourselves and other people and creation, sometimes we must make the difficult choice.

For this reason I say that I can’t approach my religion any differently than I approach other decision or problems in my life. That is, why should I suspend the way I go about decision making or problem solving in all other facets of my life; why should I check these practices at the entrance to anything religious or theological? This doesn’t make sense…yet, it is exactly what is expected of us by many religious groups and organizations around the world. I cannot accept this…at least for me!

I have two points to add to this. First, if you try living differently in one area of your life and try to force that part into the other areas of your life, you will never achieve the greater unity you seek. You will be condemned to being something less than whole. But, this is what is often encouraged in trying to live the religious life. You take the dogma; you take the creeds; and you suspend your approach to living when you enter the religious part of your life. Then you are encouraged to carry this religious approach to life into everything else that you do. It just doesn’t work.

Many people complain that people are only religious for one hour a week…the time that they attend a worship service. The more I have thought about this the more I have come to the conclusion that people don’t extend the “religious” part of their life work…to their home…to the other parts of their life…because the approach to doing things in a “religious” way…just doesn’t work. And, human decision making and problem solving abilities have evolved for one simple, pragmatic reason…they work.

Let me note right away that this does not mean that one does not live an honorable, meaningful life outside the “religious” part of their life. We are still commanded to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The crucial thing in living well is that we keep on trying to discover the models of life that bring us into greater unity with God, etc., and that bring us into greater personal wholeness. But, that gets me into my second point.

My second point is that God wants us to be problem solvers in everything that we do. We, in a real sense, believe that God has given humans this gift…has given us the talent to solve problems and make decisions. God, we believe, has claimed that “this is good!” God, we believe, wants us to practice and develop this capability throughout our lives. It is through the use of this ability that we can grow into greater unity with God, within ourselves, with others, and with creation. Therefore, this talent is to be used in all our activities…including those pertaining to religion and theology.

Therefore, I cannot accept any institution or person telling me that I have to live or believe a certain way. They can suggest certain ways of living or believing for my consideration. But, I have to be free to decide for myself…and that is the only way that I can be me.